Once gone!

Why do we feel short of time? And despite depending on other sources to save time, yet we never save enough? Just to spend it in a more better manner...
Time is a currency. It has been for a long time. Only in the last 10 yrs when more and more people have disposable incomes, their need for "quality" time has risen. The good old pyramid structure where once only the elite valued time, has now expanded to the larger middle class, which is desperate to live a good life, and have a good "time". Unfortunately, this good time concept is more materialistic and hence, always the need for more time!!
Since time can neither be manufactured or expanded, it is much more valuable than all our investments and assets. The wife who waits for you to come home for dinner, the kids who grow up while you slog away at your desk, the parents who are patient and understanding, and of course, the parallel time at work - team, clients, commitments etc.
Since more and more of us want to manage lives better and be in control of where we spend what amount of time, it is accompanied with a surge of powerlessness. Its valued only once its gone. Just wanting to be in control of time isnt enough now, is it? Cos, unfortunately we are never told how to manage our time! Throughout  our schooling, we have a scheduled life - rise, breakfast, assembly, classes, lunch, home, homework, playtime, dinner, sleep. We are conditioned to manage time - but something happens and we lose plot. We are taught complex maths, we rote biased history - but time management? Never. We waste it royally.
We pretend though - to care enough to make more time. We dont want to waste time watching bad movies, so we go online and read reviews. We dont want to stand in queues, so we pay our bills online, we dont want to go to the govt offices and waste whole day, so we find agents / touts. Yes, good going till now. We are saving time.
The question is, what are we doing with what we are saving? Are we using it where we want it? The way we want it? Are we really in control? I would like to use what i save for thousand other things i wish i could. But do i?
Yes, there is no point to this except blabbering and wasting 3-4 mins of your time :)

Fools rush in...

What has captured the imagination of the nation is "Corruption Free India". The means, end, madness is all going to be justified in one way or the other. There will be closure to this jamboree. And it wont even take a week. The UPA is handicapped by a bureaucrat babu at the helm, and the bunch of advisors have led it to one mistake after the next.
The small group in Tihar, the hundreds on Dilli roads, the thousands on streets elsewhere and the lakhs who are like it online, view themselves as something else. Perhaps ten years down the line, they will be people who will proudly claim "Freedom fighter" benefit for what they did in August 2011.
On the other hand, i wonder if there will be similar movements and mass mobilisation and support for say, Nuclear bill? Or the bill on Taxation? Or even Environment??
Right now, corruption is a representation of everything that is wrong in the country. Corruption is a visible phenomenon. That we do nothing abt it in our day to day lives has caused matters to come to this day. When newly laid roads are washed away, we never question our corporators. When parking space or area reserved for gardens and public schools is given to make malls, we don't stop to ask them why. We have no sense of entitlement - that we deserve a good life, good health system, good schools and education, good roads and amenities. And because we live like irresponsible citizens - not voting and not voting the ineffective out of power - we should be punished.

Our electronic media has played the worst role they could in this circus. At a moment when they should have been objective and educated their viewers on both sides of the Lokpal bill, they have played favourites. The near certain escalation of the issue, will ensure TRPs for the channels and awards for some half-baked reporters, who will go on to believe that making everything into a mass movement is the right way forward.

Secondly, the frustrations of millions of people were fueled by those ridiculous email forwards which put unrealistic sums of black money stashed away in Swiss accounts, with dope like "it can feed entire country for 30 years" etc.
For 65 years, the movie "Gandhi" was telecast at least three times every year but never did people take to the streets for "peaceful" protests like they have now. The other factor, hence, is Bollywood where movies like RDB, No one killed Jessica, have portrayed the power of the mob. Just taking to the streets, lighting candles and disrupting the very functioning of the economy that pays for all this, is plain ridiculous.

For all those who have found a "purpose" in their lives in this shindig, i wish them luck. They have chosen to do something abt the situation. Perhaps, in hindsight they will see sense in what the rest of us are saying... It summarises the present societal norms, more or less, where both parents work and don't have time for their children, and in their collective guilt, they do whatever the child wants them to do. When the child resorts to emotional blackmail for not getting what it wants and doesn't listen to the parent half way.

Gandhi went on innumerable indefinite fasts to get Brits to pay attention. But he also fasted as penance for his followers who did wrong. Will we see Anna fast till his followers stop offering and accepting bribe, and will they change their ways cos of his fasting, remains to be seen...

A Week to Remember

Everyone is looking at the coming week with great anticipation. With the US debt ceiling crisis induced nervousness, the fluctuating stock market, all major banks discouraging spends, SBI's performance, the two big scams and madam Gandhi recuperating away from all this, we have a perfect recipe for what can be hailed as "the most interesting week of all times in post Independence India"!!

This week the Team Anna led Civil society is going back in history to re-start the Civil disobedience movement in one of the Delhi parks. Team Anna has been calling all the shots and the government is like a sitting duck! The present govt is been painted as the MOST corrupt by this team... But for me it is MOST uncommunicative. Why dont they call the shots? After all they are in power. Have they forgotten that they "are" the government? They should control the game and the rules. Effectiveness of government is not when it gives full page ads and runs television spots of its schemes but when it seeks a dialog with its people. Staying in clean areas of Delhi and travelling on roads cleared for their movements, our leaders might have lost touch with reality. But this is one chance for them to open their minds to the public. This week presents an excellent platform for the govt in power and all political parties to really "connect" with its people.

The muted leadership make me think of Congress not as an elephant with a devil-make-care swagger but with an aged dinosaur who has to think 25 million times before it can take a dump. This is our cue to find a workable solution before we allow everyone to bite into this so called revolution and sink the whole country into anarchy. 

I dont understand the complicated US election process. I tried very hard to follow but the voting, the senate, the representation model, are all very complex for "our" type of democracy. Maybe i will understand it next time around... What i like abt them though is the public debates. The intra party, as well as the inter party. They are fair, they are televised and they really bring out the issue and its multiple point of views.


Remember how we used to debate at school? With passion and power of our conviction. Of course, the topics were lame but the way we spoke and arguments that we presented as school children, made everyone in the audience think too.

This week, the media will be there to cover and sensationalise every blimp in Anna Hazare's blood pressure. But we as media people can do better than that.

Wherever the Delhi Police allow the "fast unto death", the media should invite the Congress party to put up a stage on the opposite side. (Just like in Coolie, where Sr Bachchan and Kader Khan have a stand off.) Let there be 5 speakers from the the govt and 5 speakers from the Civil society. 

Let us give our leaders a chance to explain their point of view. We have elected them to the Parliament. We thought they can do the country good. They have been quiet abt many issues, god knows for what reason. But this week, they cannot afford to be silent. We cannot go down in history on account of a govt not having a say in matters that matter the most. The country cannot be bullied either by the Team Anna or the UPA. This country has a will. We have persisted and functioned. We have progressed and developed. We, the people of India.
Let these 10 speakers do a televised debate on the most crucial stand off points in the Jan Lokpal and the Govts Lokpal - bringing the PM and judiciary under the purview, the sitting MPs, govt officials of all ranks, the state lokpals, etc - and let us watch it and try to understand the logic. Yes, there is a friction and it is important. We need to know both sides of the story, and right now, unfortunately, we are being fed only one side!
Let the electronic media people be silent for once and let the people who actually matter speak. Due to consecutive victories where the power of the fourth estate was displayed, it now believes that it can judge the government too. It has forgotten to be unbiased and report facts. And this week, all media should do just that - REPORT FACTS. Dont colour it with your political leanings. Stay away from headlines that sell. Dont print / relay irresponsible statements from non-actors in this high drama. This week is bigger than any of your little profits and TRPs.

Let us all make sure this week doesnt bring down everything we have built together.

Dance with me baby!!

When the editing gives you a beating and the cuts wont allow you to do a full sequence, you are on a Bollywood dance set...

Frankly, i am not much of a dancer. Few years back at a friends insistence i went for a salsa course and made a fool of myself. Every session. If you dont know your hip from your waist, you are either carrying tyres around your middle or you have two left feet. Or both, like me!
I do good justice to Bollywood dancing though. The uncomplicated, iconic steps are my favourites. And whatever passes as the Ganapati dance. And some of the psychedelic moves. I even invented a few steps like the "paunch shaker" and "shadow fighter" in my not sober nights. The best one though was "get out of my face", which later on developed as a mosh pit move, globally. What the hell, it was a global movement waiting to happen, so i wont fight for the credit.
Whenever i try to dance like one of our heroes, i am suddenly thrown back. I dont ever get to see the "full dance step" in its entirety. Meaning i cant see the full movement in one go. The shot is cut too frequently for me to even comprehend what is happening. So when i hit the dance floor, rarely and gingerly, i am doing half steps borrowed from multiple sequences. Of course, there is a synch issue with me. But the larger crisis is when i try to combine two different schools of dance.
Its the attention span thats messing up the dancing these days. Some recent survey says that kids (thats everyone under the age of 21) cannot stay focused on the same visual for more than 7 seconds. Of course, its exaggerated but its not too far from the truth. When i watch any youth channel, no visual stays for longer than 7 seconds, even if its an elaborate dance step.
The way Bollywood shoots and edits dance videos, has had damaging effect on those learning from the screen - partial enthusiasts like me. There are two angles which are cut for line 1 and line 2. End of story. And there are multiple stylised cuts which ensure that whoever is trying to imitate their screen icon, never learns to dance like them. Even for live shows.
And with the influx of hip-hop moves and south american steps, it is near impossible for a novice to pick up the beat. Which is why, Salman Khan works. His dance steps from day 1 have been so amateur dancer friendly, that i cant even begin to thank him and those who choreograph him!!
And of course, the KK moves from Honeymoon travels.
PS: Oh! You should see my version of the moonwalk. MJ will want to come back to life - just to slap me.

The Churn in Entertainment Biz

As i stare comatose at the music channel, i cant help but admire the guts of father-son duo in YPD. Their decision to dance at a terrible set of a roadside dhaba, with laddies n lads prancing around in clothes best not worn at dhabas, gives us major insight into how they have the "pulse of the market". (If you don't know what song i am talking abt, pls look up the video of : Tinku Jiya.)
Remember watching old movies and the jhalla people who formed the mob in the dance sequences? There were never good-looking people in those "extras" and no one expected them to be stunning. No matter how hard i try, i cant think of anyone worth a second glance, except for the girl in bob-cut and horizontal stripes ganji, sitting behind Neetu Singh in "Parda hai parda" from Amar Akbar Anthony, and she was only sitting, not dancing. (Yes, i know... Judge me all you want...)
When i see background dancers in a YRF or KJo or Nadiadwala movie, i cant help but wonder what happened to the plain-jane, roadside looking mob that was a trademark of our dance sequences till the 80s? When exactly did we lose the average looking folks and replace them with these calendar girls, with tip top bodies, faces that could light up a night?
I cannot help but credit our PM for this effect. The post liberal economy not only sold India to the FII, it also sold India to Indians or India to the Bharat. And what better platform than the Commercial Hindi Movies?? In the post-liberal economy, with all international brands within reach, a string of beauty queens, glossy films and glossier magazines, we learnt to dream, we wanted to dream. We wanted to look good. We wanted the people on screen to look good too. There was a boom in beauty business. Gyms sprang up. Dance classes mushroomed. Now there is a salsa class in back of beyond taluka place too - and that is the wonder of liberal economy.

Much of this on-screen coup was actually a revolution led by Shaimaks dance academy where all hotties lined up - primarily to get a break on stage / screen. I think that did the average looking folks in. Once the film industry realised that the extras can be "upmarket" looking people, the "desi" appearing extras were thrown out of mob sequences. Our maid in the NNP, Goregaon east 1RK pad could easily have passed off as a dancer in the 80s or even early 90s. You know the ones in frocks, doing some version of cha-cha-cha? However, cos of this upheaval she ended up getting the "running scared" mob parts in Shaktimaan (when evil Samrat Kilvish attacks) for 250 bucks a shift. There were whole lot of struggling people in the NNP housing scheme and when i think of them in hindsight, i realise they didnt stand a chance to compete with the posh kids. After all, first impressions go a long way when you are casting 30-40 random dancers.

Think abt it... How many times have you been partial to someone who was more presentable? Or unfair to someone who was little unpleasant to look at?? Our filmwalahs are after all human :)

Well, we also have some terrible looking actors who made it to the silver screen and in lead roles too, thanks to their brother, fathers, mothers, uncles. They are exceptions and let them be.

The other side of the story is, the SEC A+ type kids awakening to the possibilities in film career. So what if its for filling in the background? Bollywood suddenly became fashionable. It was fine to work in the film industry. They did their annual foreign trips with the film crew instead of family holidays. Nothing changed for them, except some more pocket money.
As i look at the item girl and her firang troupe in YMD cant help but think, where did all the average looking people go? Which mob sequence do they dance in? Or run in? What do they do with their "Junior artist" card that doesnt give them those appearances anymore??